History DarthWiki / DivineComedyATheoreticalFateRPG

* AmbiguousDisorder: While not as much as the original, Dante still has a weird relationship with consciousness, having fainting spells, sleeping spells, and hallucinations at various points in Inferno, and a few times in Purgatorio. This is utilized usually to trigger flashbacks that elaborate on Dante's past and how what he's going through connects to it, or to give you a look into an NPC or guest party member's memories or thoughts; the latter suggests that this may also be an effect of holy magic, or at least, Dante's disorder is being hijacked by it to assist him in his and the party member's growth. While Dante insists that they've always been some kind of holy sign and even starts at one point to cook up a divine conspiracy about how this meant he was always TheChosenOne, all the while Virgil tries to convince him that it's probably some kind of disease.

** It becomes increasingly clear that [[spoiler:Dante himself is one; at the start, he's merely a bit of a snarky jerk, albeit an extremely pompous jerk, but due to being surrounded by people he respects to some extent the former at least isn't too blatant. Then, you get to find out more about him and his many, many deep flaws as he begins to realize them himself; and also, much like with other characters, how he, a man who grew up not in a not quite dirt poor but still rather impoverished household with an embarrassing AmbiguousDisorder, in a volatile, unstable, rapidly changing city where people were constantly at each others' throats, turned out that way.]]

* BadassBaritone: Much like all of the writer's other works, the first released media of this concept were Music/{{UTAU}} covers. While both Dante and Virgil both technically are in the baritone range, Virgil's voice is noticeably deeper, mature, and serious-sounding, which along with his height helps balance out his somewhat [[{{Bishounen}} pretty]] appearance (at least relative to Dante).

* AdultFear: In the conversation where you recruit [[spoiler:Mordred, her pitiful, heartbreaking, childlike state makes Dante remember his own young children, which particularly breaks his heart. While he has been growing more sympathetic to the shades as the story goes on, he does grow to be less emotional about it as he gets conditioned to Hell and all its horrors; seeing Mordred like this visibly makes his metaphorical heart sink. Even Virgil looks pretty shocked]].

* TheDevilIsALoser: Played with. [[spoiler:The Satan of this game is more coherent and intelligent than Dante's original version, is a legitimate threat, and he also attempts to systematically push both your and Mordred's buttons. However, he also acts like a giant pathetic mainchild, with dialogue to match, and unlike Mordred's vulnerability, his childishness only makes him look even more whiny and hatable, though it's also extremely pitiful. And oh, his ultimate motivation? To keep everyone in Hell with no chance of salvation because if he has to suffer, so does everyone else. Mordred breaks out of his appeals to NotSoDifferent and brushes him off, which subsequently encourages Dante to go ShutUpHannibal and defeat him]].

** A more minor one, but [[spoiler:whereas in DarthWiki/ThereOnceWasASpotKnownAsCamelot[=/=]Project Alter, especially in UTAU covers, Mordred compares herself to [[FallenHero Satan]] and Artoria to God sometimes, in a vaguely Literature/ParadiseLost way before Paradise Lost was written - expressing both the idea that she is a fallen respected "angel" (knight) and [[TheDevilIsALoser her deeply rooted insecurities which make her believe that comparison to such an ugly creature is apt]] - here, she defeats Satan himself with Dante, on behalf of God no less. Satan even tries pushing her buttons by trying to pull a NotSoDifferent on her and Dante, but she actually brushes off his manipulation before him, motivating our hero to do the same. Because unlike Satan, she's seeking redemption now and wants to change for the better. In fact, her Noble Phantasm channeled through the Cross of Salvation is the final blow needed to chain Satan down into the ice once more. And if all goes well, she'll one day be able to go home to the real Heavenly kingdom, by the side of her father, once more]].

* RealitySubtext: More of the reality subtext from the original work, mainly regarding the political conflicts in Florence at the time, is woven into the poem than one would expect. There are flashbacks interspersed showing Dante’s life in Florence throughout the game, showing such things as his childhood in poverty and witnessing the two factions fighting in the streets, his father before his relationship with him became distant assuring him of the good of the papacy, his time working in the administration of Florence, his horror at the news that the old pope was imprisoned, etc., often trigged by non-recruitable but important NPCs who reveal more and more to the player about how fractured Florence has become, but at the same time also how it isn't as simple as it seems. There is also a “bonus” cutscene unlocked early which shows Dante going about his day and just barely escaping a political brawl. Dante notes how the lower he goes into hell, the less forgivable the sins are because the more he can attribute them to tearing his city apart, but he becomes progressively more aware of his part in it and the petty drama of his own faction. At the end of Inferno, [[spoiler:Lucifer cites the many, especially then-current Medieval, political events, wars, and conflicts that have occurred since the Death of Christ as the reason he has been regaining his power recently; particularly the Italian civil wars, which he is more than happy to gloat about with how the ones supposedly appointed to be God's agents on Earth are causing so much pain and suffering because of political ambitions, though he also brings up things like political meddling in the Crusades, antisemitic pogroms, the splitting of the church, and possibly references the Black Plague that is to come in the future]]. [[spoiler:Dante’s great-grandfather in Heaven goes on and spells it out further, telling him about how Florence used to be and his impending exile; but he notes how it was also the city that gave him a second chance, much like the many immigrating to it are also hoping to have. He also talks about how his rest of his life will be like his personal Hell, but to not let it break him.]]

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Unfortunately, one of the problems with still incorporating the interactions from the original with those who have no Servant design is to make a new one. Most non-Servants are just designed with the same approach DarthWiki/ProjectAlter has to {{Historical Domain Character}} Servants in life of "slap some [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair colorful hair]] on their portraits", and while some adjustments are made to the other characters so they don't stick out too much, those who are recruitable can tend to stick out a lot, especially if they have AnimeHair or are more on the {{Bishounen}} side. Dante straight-up lampshades that they Greeks they recruit have a strange lack of beards.

* RealitySubtext: More of the reality subtext from the original work, mainly regarding the political conflicts in Florence at the time, is actually woven into the poem than one would expect. There are flashbacks interspersed showing Dante’s life in Florence throughout the game showing such things as his childhood in poverty and witnessing the two factions fighting in the streets, his father before his relationship with him became distant assuring him of the good of the papacy, his time working in the administration of Florence, his horror at the news that the old pope was imprisoned, etc., often trigged by non-recruitable but important NPCs who reveal more and more to the player about how fractured Florence has become, but at the same time also how it isn't as simple as it seems. There is also a “bonus” cutscene unlocked early which shows Dante going about his day and just barely escaping a political brawl. Dante notes how the lower he goes into hell, the less forgivable the sins are because the more he can attribute them to tearing his city apart, but he becomes progressively more aware of his part in it and the petty drama of his own faction. At the end of Inferno, [[spoiler:Lucifer cites the many, especially then-current Medieval, political events, wars, and conflicts that have occurred since the Death of Christ as the reason he has been regaining his power recently; particularly the Italian civil wars, which he is more than happy to gloat about with how the ones supposedly appointed to be God's agents on Earth are causing so much pain and suffering because of political ambitions, though he also brings up things like political meddling in the Crusades, antisemitic pogroms, the splitting of the church, and possibly references the Black Plague that is to come in the future]]. [[spoiler:Dante’s great-grandfather in Heaven goes on and spells it out further, telling him about how Florence used to be and his impending exile; but he notes how it was also the city that gave him a second chance, much like the many immigrating to it are also hoping to have. He also talks about how his rest of his life will be like his personal Hell, but to not let it break him.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Actually pretty on the Idealistic side, even the extremely bleak Inferno segment. The main theme appears to be that almost everyone may be redeemable, and even those who God has seemingly abandoned may have a chance if they see the light. Also, even the best among people, including many denizens of Heaven, can have sins they had to fight, just like the rest of us.

* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: This is all but stated not so much for the story as a whole, but for one character arc in particular; [[spoiler:that being the arc of your original party member, Virgil. [[TheStinger After the credits]], we get to see Virgil, once again in Limbo, at a desk, reflecting on the adventure. Then, the ground rumbles, and a light appears just off screen. Virgil, surprised, stands and looks towards the light. Text, apparently from nowhere, appears, stating "Thou hath done much to serve the Lord, wise poet. Thou hath waited long enough". Virgil's portrait [[NotSoStoic displays a rare, heartwarming smile only seen one other time in the entire game]], and all he says is "Oh... Can it be?". The scene ends right here, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments but the implication is that Virgil will eventually make it into Heaven as well, because of the service he's done to guide you the best he can]].]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dante. He has an obvious chip on his shoulder, is a snarky, self-righteous jerk, has way too high an opinion of himself and his ability as a cavalryman, [[spoiler:shows himself to be a bit of a suck-up and a hypocrite, and was not able to recognize how much his parents sacrificed for his sake or how much he was neglecting his own wife, not even attempting to establish a friendship with the latter while openly fixating on Beatrice, a girl he didn't even know all that well. It also becomes apparent that his childhood has made him [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex painfully insecure, making him overcompensate]], and that he has a terrible tendency to hold grudges. Note, some of these traits are punished in Hell]]. However, it's also made progressively clear that he ''does'' have a heart of gold under there, which is made to show itself more often as the story goes on, and he starts coming across as increasingly more forgiving than Virgil.

** It becomes increasingly clear that [[spoiler:Dante himself is one; at the start, he's merely a bit of a snarky jerk, albeit an extremely pompous jerk, but due to being surrounded by people he respects to some extent the former at least isn't too blatant. Then, you get to find out more about him and his many, many flaws as he begins to realize them himself, flaws that run extremely deep. You also find out, much like the other characters, about why he, a man who grew up not quire dirt poor but still rather impoverished household with an embarrassing AmbiguousDisorder, in a volatile, unstable, rapidly changing city where people were constantly at each others' throats, turned out that way.]]

* TheOneThatGotAway: As it turns out, [[spoiler:Beatrice, just like in real life, and in the final challenge of his spiritual journey he has to move on from her, which is pretty much the opposite direction the original went in. At the end of Heaven, it’s revealed that Beatrice and the "Beatrice" Dante knew are two separate people, just {{Identical Stranger}}s now; or rather, she's an agent of God named Beatrice who took on the form of Beatrice "Bice" Portinari, while "Bice" had just ascended from Purgatory. Her journey, as noted by Holy Woman Beatrice, was indeed impressively quick in that she got a fast-pass through Ante-Purgatory and it took her "just" about a decade to get there for being such an upstanding person, but she was still in Purgatory nonetheless. The above final challenge has them finally be able to have a heart-to-heart for the first time. Though Dante was right in a way in that Beatrice would lead him to salvation, he just had the wrong Beatrice.]]

* UndeadBarefooter: As in illustrations for the original work, everyone but Dante and the search party who comes looking for him at the very end is barefoot outside of flashbacks, where the character sprites have shoes added onto them. Some of the souls also recognize you as one of the living this way.

** It appears that Jason actually used to act a lot more like one would expect from a mythological hero and captain in life in this AU, instead of the obnoxious jerk he is in canon. He was very self-absorbed and an idiot, but he wasn’t as obnoxious, and as a result his betrayal of Medea was genuinely something that shocked people. However, by the time you meet him, that canonical jerkishness has been twisted around so that he's a jerk, but less an arrogant one and more a extremely bitter, sardonic one.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dante. He has an obvious chip on his shoulder, is a snarky, self-righteous jerk, has way too high an opinion of himself and his ability as a cavalryman, [[spoiler:shows himself to be a bit of a suck up, and was not able to recognize how much his parents sacrificed for his sake or how much he was neglecting his own wife, not even attempting to establish a friendship with the latter while openly fixating on Beatrice, a girl he didn't even know all that well. It also becomes apparent that his childhood has made him [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex painfully insecure, making him overcompensate]], and that he has a terrible tendency to hold grudges. Note, some of these traits are punished in Hell]]. However, it's also made progressively clear that he ''does'' have a heart of gold under there, which is made to show itself more often as the story goes on, and he starts coming across as increasingly more forgiving than Virgil.

* FridgeHorror: At times, it’s implied that even Divine judgement can “convict” innocent people, and even beside that there are many who are anything but beyond redemption. In the Greed circle, a NPC even implies that he had some faith before, but now, if this is what God supposedly wants despite giving him no choice to get out of his situation, then he doesn’t want God’s love anyway, showing that yes, all this punishment can be counterproductive and can just make people worse. You can offer to redeem him, but he seems extremely reluctant and bitter, and only relents after you’re very persistent. Then there’s Jason’s whole arc, where he’s understandably bitter and has actually gotten worse due to the endless, ultimately pointless torture.
* GodIsGood: Much like in PA, but here it’s a more central focus for obvious reasons. Much respect is paid to theology and the Christian philosophy at the time and the author has stated she wanted to write it as if she were an actual Catholic, save for the stuff that really, really didn’t age well. This is despite the author being Agnostic and it influencing some of the writing (I.e. much more leniency on those of different faiths; for example, Mohammad is omitted entirely from Inferno, no Mosques are outside the City of Dis, the former Agnostic NPC in Limbo who marvels that God indeed existed but still wonders why he never shows himself more, how much like in Fate there’s implication much that certain faiths may be judged completely differently (in an Easter Egg on the very, very edges of Limbo, after walking something over twenty minutes, a dark-skinned child can suddenly run in from the right of the screen from a portal and bump into you, apparently lost, before a sprite that is clearly Karna comes to get the child and tells him that he’s gone off limits, questions how he was even able to get there, and drags the kid away, presumably to where the Hindus are supposed to belong. And other Abrahamic religions are also treated as if they were Christians, with Saladin being found in Heaven, not Limbo, due to still being a defender of God’s faith). However, there is also the implication that GodIsFlawed strewn throughout. (Pending)
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: Used a lot. Beatrice's color scheme for one, while having noticeable green accents, features primarily white and gold, with the Cross of Salvation also sharing her color scheme. As the latter is the only thing with this color scheme you have with you while in Hell, it especially, quite fittingly for what it represents, stands out. Also a dominant color scheme in Heaven for this reason, and Dante identifies Jesus, even as a griffin, with the color of his plumage being this.

** Limbo: Caesar, Penthesilea, Lavinia, or Hector

* ImpoverishedPatrician: [[Dante's own family, as much as he hates admitting it. They were already of such minor nobility that Dante's father didn't even remember what their title was anymore, but Dante grew up in a humble background, to say the least. He was ashamed of this fact to a very extreme extent, and despite regularly expressing distaste for the NouveauRiche immigrants to Florence in the last few decades he himself was probably about as poor as the average economic migrant. One flashback he has in one of his fainting episodes shows him as a child, where after bragging to other aspiring artists like him about how he's rich enough to have his own room and how his father holds way more power in the city than they would think, comes home and we get to see his childhood home; a small house that, while not completely awful, has clearly seen better days, almost tripping over a rat as he greets his father, who is tending to his mother's fever. He was arranged to be married to his wife partly because his father wanted to at least hope to give him a noble life like he always wanted and he knew how embarrassed Dante was of his humble origins. Dante's ancestors from the original poem are also made much more humble in background, and the furthest back, his great-grandfather, was ironically a peasant who escaped his Lord to try to make something of his own in Florence (pending)]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: While usually Virgil rebukes them if unjustified, it is only somewhat less common for damned soul to bring up a good argument that puts holes in the reasoning for why they’re there, or bring up some hypocrisy with the whole thing.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dante. He has an obvious chip on his shoulder, is a snarky, self-righteous jerk, has way too high an opinion of himself and his ability as a calvaryman, and shows himself to be a bit of a suck-up. [[spoiler:Oh, and some of these things are also sins in Hell]]. However, it's also made progressively clear that he ''does'' have a heart of gold under there, which is made to show itself more often as the story goes on, often coming across as increasingly more forgiving than Virgil.

* TheOneThatGotAway: As it turns out, [[spoiler:Beatrice, just like in real life, and in the final challenge of his spiritual journey he has to move on from her, which is pretty much the opposite direction the original went in. At the end of Heaven, it’s revealed that Beatrice and the "Beatrice" Dante knew are two separate people, just {{Identical Stranger}}s now; or rather, she's an agent of God named Beatrice who took on the form of Beatrice "Bice" Potenari, while "Bice" had just ascended from Purgatory. Her journey, as noted by Holy Woman Beatrice, was indeed impressively quick in that she got a fast-pass through Ante-Purgatory and it took her "just" about a decade to get there for being such an upstanding person, but she was still in Purgatory nonetheless. The above final challenge has them finally be able to have a heart-to-heart for the first time. Though Dante was right in a way in that Beatrice would lead him to salvation, he just had the wrong Beatrice.]]

* RealitySubtext: More of the reality subtext from the original work, mainly regarding the political conflicts in Florence at the time, is actually woven into the poem than one would expect. There are flashbacks interspersed showing Dante’s life in Florence throughout the game showing such things as his childhood witnessing the two factions fighting in the streets, his father assuring him of the good of the papacy, his time working in the administration of Florence, his horror at the news of Pope Boniface VIII’s deeds, etc., often trigged by non-recruitable but important NPCs who reveal more and more to the player about how fractured Florence has become. There is also a “bonus” cutscene unlocked early which shows Dante going about his day and just barely escaping a political brawl. Dante notes how the lower he goes into hell, the less forgivable the sins are because the more he can attribute them to tearing his city apart, but he becomes progressively more aware of his part in it and the petty drama of his own faction. Finally, [[spoiler:Lucifer cites the many, especially then-current Medieval, political events, wars, and conflicts that have occurred since the Death of Christ as the reason he has been regaining his power recently; particularly the Italian civil wars, which he is more than happy to gloat about with how the ones supposedly appointed to be God's agents on Earth are causing so much pain and suffering because of political ambitions, though he also brings up things like political meddling in the Crusades, antisemitic pogroms, the splitting of the church, and possibly references the Black Plague that is to come in the future]]. Dante’s great-grandfather in Heaven goes on and spells it out further, telling him about how Florence used to be and his impending exile, and how his rest of his life will be like his personal Hell, but to not let it break him.

* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: Used a lot. Beatrice's color scheme for one, while having noticeable green accents, features primarily white and gold, with the Cross of Salvation also sharing her color scheme. As the latter is the only thing with this color scheme you have with you while in Hell, it especially, quite fittingly for what it represents, stands out. Also a dominant color scheme in Heaven for this reason.
* GoodParents: Unlike the game that somewhat inspired this one, a more historically accurate picture of Dante's parents, moreso his father as his mother doesn’t show up much, are painted from flashbacks; he first appears as a good father teaching a young Dante about the love of God and the good of the Papacy, but despite it, in a later flashback, he refuses to engage a gang of Ghibellines throwing abuse at them, telling him that it's not worth it. [[spoiler:He's encountered waiting to enter Purgatory, boarding the boat Dante is on, to Dante's shock. He reveals he was a usurer, something which Dante had apparently heard about through rumor but he never took seriously because his father always hid it from him, telling him that he worked in "trade", also working as a notary as a front. [[BrokenPedestal Dante is obviously pretty crushed by this]], but it's made clear that he did it to give Dante a good life and to support him in his artistic ventures and education, and that he had no real option because he was poor. His inactivity in political affairs also wasn't worthy of him getting punished as an Opportunist because, despite being a Guleph, it was for his family's safety. Because of that and that he prayed for forgiveness upon death, he was spared from Hell]].

** Unlike the original, the story specifically deconstructs the real Dante's many, many personal character flaws that he didn't address in his work, examining his self-image and personal complexes apparent from his work, and tackling them very much head-on. Dante is a deeply flawed man who has been molded by his surroundings and many personal insecurities, a man whose escape has been artistic expression, who was growing up in a rapidly changing city that was already changing faster than he could keep up with since he was a child. It's made apparent by the end how unhealthy [[spoiler:Dante’s obsession with Beatrice is, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe as he latched onto her after she had shown him kindness all those years ago]]]]. In the end, realizing his own flaws and working to face him leads to him becoming a much better person for it.

* HolyHandGrenade: Your chief weapon aside from your spear is your Cross of Salvation, a golden crucifix that was blessed specifically to help Dante on his journey; yes, it has the ability to beam damned souls up into Purgatory, but it can also cast spells to harm them and demons by channeling God’s light and/or the power of the souls you saved through it (as well as, if you will it enough, [[spoiler:summon a literal angel]]). It also acts as a torch, source of warmth, and general-purpose momentary evil repellent, and can also somehow return shades to some of their original combat capability and magically enhance them too. Despite how central the latter is to the combat, even Virgil doesn’t know how the latter works and just tells Dante to basically roll with it when asked about it.

* LoserProtagonist: For all his skills as a writer and intelligence, Dante has been described by the writer herself as “a genius, but a salty loser". At the beginning of the game, he's stubborn, petty, frankly kind of childish and rather pathetic, and thinks way too highly of himself to the point of delusions of grandeur, bragging about his supposed great performance in battle in Campaldino... Right after having run screaming from the three beasts (Pending), and subsequently again showing himself to be such a coward that even [[spoiler:Paris, if you recruit him in the Second Circle]], laughs at his expense for it.
* NotSoStoic: Virgil has moments like this (particularly if he gets especially frustrated with Dante or one of the guest party members), and he isn’t nearly as infallible as the original poem presents him to be, but they culminate in the Eighth Circle, demonstrating that his worldly logic isn't enough this far down into Hell, where he lets his cultural values immediately cloud his judgement of Odysseus, and becomes extremely indignant when Dante reminds him that Chiron gave them his blessing to bring him along. Though on the other hand, as you go on, he also starts acting more warmly around Dante and more obviously protective, and by the time of the Seventh Circle Virgil finds himself accidentally calling Dante “My Son”. This leads to Chiron and Virgil discussing their duty as mentors, for once showing Virgil’s side of what they’ve been through for the past few days, and the name sticks, with Dante calling him Father in turn. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Dawwww]]. By the time he leaves you, telling you how he enjoyed traveling with you, his portrait shows him smiling.

* TheOneThatGotAway: As it turns out, [[spoiler:Beatrice, just like in real life, and in the final challenge of his spiritual journey he has to move on from her, which is pretty much the opposite direction the original went in. At the end of Heaven, it’s revealed that “Beatrice” was actually the Virgin Mary in disguise, and she had taken the form because Dante saw her as such an inspiration. She then takes Dante to Eden, and tells him he has a visitor. It’s the real Beatrice. She has conflicted feelings about him, understandably, but they both reconcile.]]

* RedOniBlueOni: Dante wears red robes, while Virgil has a bluish glow, olive green eyes, and white robes with blue accents. While Dante isn’t exactly HotBlooded, he is still more stubborn, pompous, childish, and emotional than [[TheStoic Virgil]], who is written as basically reason in human form.

* {{Dramedy}}: The bleak tone of the Inferno segment doesn’t mean the entire thing is joyless. Especially if your guest party member is one of the more lighthearted types despite their circumstances. The tone can quickly bounce from horrifying to depressing to heartwarming to BlackComedy to actually kind of lighthearted several times within the same level. One of the most notable is a part in the Eighth Circle at the pit of corrupt politicians, where, as Dante has another crisis with himself as he reflects on how he might become yet another corrupt politician in the political pit of chaos that his home city has become, he, Virgil, and [[spoiler:Jason]] are escorted by a group of bickering demons... one of who [[ToiletHumor uses his farts as a trumpet]]. Though these demons, fart trumpet included, are basically acting just as they did in the original.

* LoserProtagonist: For all his skills as a writer and intelligence, Dante has been described by the writer herself as “a genius, but a salty loser". At the beginning of the game, he's rather pathetic, childish, stubborn, and thinks way too highly of himself to the point of delusions of grandeur, bragging about his supposed great performance in battle in Campaldino... Right after having run screaming from the three beasts, and subsequently again showing himself to be such a coward that even [[spoiler:Paris, if you recruit him in the Second Circle]], laughs at his expense for it.